astoria.mung.net

MicroMung!

I sometimes tell people that Astoria is strange because it started out as pure capitalist endeavor by America’s first millionaire John Jacob Astor and then soon morphed into a hot bed of Finnish socialist activity.¹ Then at some point in the late 60’s and 70’s, hippies invaded Astoria and sort of froze it in time until the late 1990’s where we are seeing it morph again. But not without a fight because a time warp will open up August 22-24 and you will be able to enjoy (I hope) Country Joe MacDonald² and watch the 60’s fade out in one last herbecous puff of smoke.

But it’s still for a good cause:
http://www.concertforbigred.org/

1. If you crack some of the history books and old newspapers, you learn Astoria has always been a town that likes to see people and their idea’s duke it out, which may explain why the town has burned down twice and is still felt by the clear divisions of “Union town” and “Upper town” [↩]
2. Although, I’ll ya, with the events in Iran and Iraq, he seems scarily prescient again [↩]

We headed out early this morning to Oswald West State Park.

By the time we ended parking around 9am, the parking lot was full. I had forgotten there was a surfer culture here, much more nomadic than the southerly surfer species. Mostly suburu hatchbacks, VW hippie-vans and crusty looking Datsuns¹ with plates from Idaho, Washington, but mostly Oregon, all converging here.

With beatific faces, the surfers are making a religious trek, lugging surfboards and coolers of cheap beer.
All of them with a burnt out/in look, perhaps of staring at the sun for far too long or of a dedicated asceticism to something I’ll never know. All worm smooth by the wind, sea and sun. All decidedly friendly to us, since we didn’t have surfboards.²

As we arrived onto Short Sands Beach, the cold mist was burning off, and the sun was getting warm on our backs. The kids were running around, getting their feet wet in the cold, cold water. Dogs were running around, for once at peace with the world: the surf drowning out the man-made noises that must surely drive them nuts and an almost limitless expanse of sand to run on. Me? I got reminded why I live where I do.

1. that always seemed to contain exactly four dudes [↩]
2. I’m told north of here at “the point” nearby seaside, the surfers are downright predatory of any and everyone. [↩]